governor gets personal and physical. >> i'll take you out, buddy. >> you'll take me out? how are you going to do that? >> the new top cop in charge of preventing anotheroff shore oil disaster. breaking news after weeks of speculation, white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is indeed stepping down. he's going to make it official tomorrow. his resignation clears the way for him to laurnlg a campaign for mayor of chicago, senior white house adviser pete rouse will be named as his successor. rouse served as president obama's chief of staff in the senate. white house correspondent is a savannah guthrie joins us now. what is the key impact by rahm leaving and being replaced by pete rouse? >> reporter: it's a real culture shift at the white house. rahm emanuel is a larger than

life figure, somebody well known. this is going to be a real difference in style. piece rouse has been with president obama since back in his senate days. he's in old washington hand, been around forforever. he keeps a lower profile, not one of these guys you'll see out at washington parties. doesn't maintain close relationships with washington reporters. i would use the word a beloved figure inside the white house. he's something of a calm erin influence. i'm told by people who have worked with him over the years that he's somebody who has been very strategic and very smart about recruiting top talents. it's kind of a who's who of names in democratic circles. people he's recruited to work for him and anita dun being one of them. he's somebody who has a lot of xperps. he's probably going to be brought in as an acting chief of staff or interim basis. but i wouldn't in a way make too much of that formulation because

i don't know that it will be a situation where the president is actively looking for some replacement. this is somebody who will be acting as chief of staff, who will hit the ground running of the and who knows, if it works well, they may keep it that way. >> in fact, the election results will have a big fact -- a big point here in which way they play it. because let's say the republicans hold sway. they are going to need somebody who can work on crafting by bipartisan agreements on the hill. >> he's somebody the hill will approve of as chief of staff. he had been there so long and so i think that people will feel like this is an acceptable choice. what it isn't, of course, is a shake-up at the white house. it isn't the infusion of new blood or new thinking. i think you may here some grousing in democratic circles that you are not getting that. you have to take a step back and

look at the big picture here. rahm leaving and bringing in new chief of staff is important but you also have a president looking kind of at a whole new chess board here of the members of his economic team departing. getting a chance to remake that and big hire forehead the national economic council to replace larry summers. a lot of people familiar with the president's thinking suggests that's how he looks at it. somebody that got mentioned a lot as potential chief of staff replacement, you lose them as deputy national security adviser. if jim jones leaves, that's widely expected. will he be in a place for that. there's a lot of puzzle places here. >> it is a chess board and rouse may be the glue that holds that together. we know that jim jones -- i've been reporting you've been reporting jim jones is going to be leaving rather sooner than

later. and that stage don lynn can move to the national security post. the economic piece. larry summers. how do you replace larry summers? one theory you've been reporting and others are reporting is to bring in a female ceo, former ceo but we hear today from the former head of zeer ox that she's not interested. they did talk to her. >> reporter: yeah, look, the white house folks here it's true they do put a preference on somebody who comes with that business experience. they would like to check that box. if it could be a woman, i think they would like to check that box too. they lost christina romer, but i don't thing they are looking at those qualities to the exclusion of all others. it's something that is perhaps a plus factor, make somebody particularly attractive. i don't get the feeling it's -- without that person -- they have to have the qualities and it's a deal breaker. we'll see what they do there. >> one other point is the senate

adjourned without confirming the budget director. he is coming over from the state department, a big loss for hillary clinton to lose him. now they've got to start the new budget cycle, don't have a budget director. he does not want a recess appointment i'm told. does not want to leave a confirmed position for a shorter term as budget director. but it's a huge job. a big policy position unfilled. >> reporter: right, and because senator mary landrieu, a democrat, put a hold on this nomination because she's upset about the continued moratorium on deep water offshore drilling off the gulf, she says it's bad for business and hurting the economy in the gulf. that's the issue there. whether they can somehow come to a resolution, we'll have to see. the moratorium is supposed to expire at the end of november. >> november 3th. >> not too much longer on it. look, you spend four seconds in the gulf. that is what people will tell you, they very concerned about the moratorium and mary landrieu

is playing hard ball. >> and savannah, right now we understand robert gibbs is coming out. we want you to get in out of the rain. gibbs is at the podium and we'll give you a pass as gibbs comes in and i guess he's about to announce officially announce what you've been reporting, which is that rahm emanuel is about to resign. let's listen in. >> resitting the temptation to comment on -- on jake's wet t-shirt contest impersonation. let me comment on this, i know there's -- i know there's a lot of stuff out there. i will say this. i have no personnel announcement today but will say the president will have a personnel announcement tomorrow at 11:05 a.m. from the east room.

we will save the specifics for then. we'll be happy to get into a long conversation about that. i don't have any news on that -- >> why can't you tell us? >> lynn, i read your paper, i've read a newspaper of papers. i'm here to tell you the president will have a personnel announcement tomorrow and at that point he will deliver that news. >> the report is correct? >> has the chief of staff told the president he's leaving? >> i'm not going to get into that. >> why is this raising to the level -- sometimes you make announce the by paper. why is this rising to the level of a personal announcement by the president? >> i -- without getting into what the announcement will be -- >> when people listen to this, it sounds like a game since we're talking about rahm's

depart ssure. >> we all have deadlines and him happy to talk about a host of subjects. i won't move a whole lot on what i said. >> the news report is accurate he's leaving to run for mayor. >> i'm not running for mayor. >> i'm talking about rahm. >> will he have two announcements somebody coming and somebody going. >> i would bet on having two announcements, yes. >> will we hear from the personnel? >> some of them, yes. >> if he were to leave, what effect would that -- >> i'm not commenting on hypotheticals. >> a lot of people are leaving, or zag left, larry is leaving, rahm is leaving. there are reports about general jones, secretary gates has said 2011 is a good time to leave. there are a lot of key members of the national security team, key members of the economic

team. could you comment on that? i've said this a number of times. i think two years in -- if you look back historically is a time in which people have come into government service at the beginning of an administration and leave to go back to ak deem ya or business or to retire and go into other pursuits. and i think it is in many ways the normal rhythm of an administration to do. we have -- i think i've said this to a number of you all, the folks that have worked here for the past two years have managed to pack four or six or eight or ten years worth of work into those two. the economic team has dealt with the type of series of crisis from housing to financial stability to the recovery act,

to unemployment, i would point out done so in a way. if you look at the news today on aig, we are -- if the common stock that the american government holds in aig were sold today, that investment would net the federal government $20 billion. as probably as late as a year ago, most people presumed that aig would be $180 billion loss and the financial sector would cost the government a great deal of money. the financial sector as a portion of t.a.r.p. is likely to provide a profit for the government in terms of its investments. i think, jake, in many ways it is the natural course of the way this town works and the

administration works, where people have given of their time and of their lives. they've been away from loved ones and families and number of people you've mentioned. i know larry moved here while his family stayed in massachusetts. and i think in many ways, again, it's the normal cycling course of doing business. >> is it abnormal to stay longer than two years? >> everybody has -- in larry's case, there were tenure issues which is not something that can be waived. in many ways -- look some people stay longer, some people will leave. i think it's largely more of the normal course and rhythm, you look at any directors or somebody like secretary gates who has -- who served the last part -- last two years of the

previous administration and i hope secretary gates doesn't get mad at me for telling this story. i remember being back stage during the transition when president elect obama saw mrs. gates and shook his new defense secretary's hand and looked at his wife and said, i'm sorry. there's a sacrifice -- >> robert gibbs trying to explain the natural rhythm of changes in the white house. there's going to be a big announcement tomorrow in the east room. doesn't want to steal thunder from the president of the united states. despite pressure from the press corps they are not officially announcing rahm emanuel. but you heard it will be pete rouse, who worked with the president in the senate. replacing as acting chief of staff and perhaps permanent chief of staff. here with us now is "time"

magazine's joe klein, completing a cross country road trip, sounding the mood of the voters and ron brownsteen political director of atlantic media and author of "national journal's" cover story. here you are in california as news is breaking on the meg whitman and jerry brown race. they had their heated debate. then the accusation from a former housekeeper that she worked for nine years without papers illegally as a nanny and housekeeper for meg whit man, the former ebay ceo and founder. meg whitman denying she knew of it. what is the impact of that allegation or is it too early to tell? >> well, he we don't know whether it's true allegation or not. the impact of the debate is going to be fairly significant. brown was already moving up in this race. and i thought he gave a very energetic and spontaneous and sometimes hilarious performance.

whitman wasn't bad. but i do think that this is a blue state and it's going to trend in that direction in this race. >> and what was interesting to me and you were tapping into the voter anger and we can talk about the other states where you were in nevada, in illinois and colorado where you got tight senate races. but here you had jerry brown, not denying that he has been around for quite a number of years. ron brownsteen is here with me. you and ron and i covered jerry brown in 1976. i covered his really hot, you were there too in 1992, in the illinois primarily where he went after hillary clinton on white water on that sunday night. and bill clinton practically crossed the stage and took him out. >> looked like he was going to deck him. >> jerry brown was both old and new but first to you, joe, it seems to be selling. >> well, it does. and in part because he was

always a maverick in this state. he was able to say when whitman said he's in the pocket of public employees unions, he was able to say he vetoed pay raises twice as governor and came up with a reform plan similar to the one whitman has come up with 20 years ago. because of his history of independence and dare i say, weirdness, we are in california here, that works in his favor. >> now, ron brownstein, one of things you say in the cover story, the sharpest difference between the two previous gop senate classes and this year's is that this year's likely group isn't experienced but ideologue cal consistency. in the past there were moderates mixed in. >> very relevant to the discussion of california. we looked at the candidates with the best chances of winning. out of that entire group, only mark kirk might be considered a

moderate and he has moved clearly to the right on issues like claim at change. the implications for that for somebody like california is profound. whether you're talking about a red state, a purple state or blue state. the republican nominees for the senate are quite conservative and carly fiorina in in california is much more conservative than a republican nom night might have been at other times. one of things you're seeing in the traditionally blue states, like california, we saw it in maryland, a governor's poll this week, maybe washington state, you are seeing some movement back towards democrats among democrats. much less valuable for them in the swing areas, in the house that lean republican. we haven't seen as much evidence of that yet. >> we've steen a tightening of the race in as la ka. there is a possibility that murkowski could come close on the write-in. mike castle decide not to stay

in the race in delaware. >> i think what ron said is absolutely true, what i'm finding. in the middle of the country, you don't get much fist shaking anger. what you get is tri anxiety and a great deep of skepticism from independents about the president. they respect him, at least that's what they say. but they disagree with him and don't like what's being going on in washington. the most important thing they find now is that in the past where we had downturns, people would kind of fear that the country was sliding from its position. kids lives won't be better than theirs. now they are convinced we're going to be number two to china and their kids' lives aren't going to be as good as theirs. their lives right now are pretty miserab miserable. >> what joe and ron are reporting, that is the mood of

america right now. >> possessism about the future. >> reed ron's cover story. up next, meet the man in charge of preventing another offshore oil spill. boss: our breakout session is gonna be great. got the gecko t-shirt... "4 million drivers switched!" gecko water bottle... notebook... chamois... gecko: sir, i feel a little bit uncomfortable with all... you know... with all this. i mean, it's not about me. should be about how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in the nation. things like that. boss: oh, of course! we're not gonna get carried away. gecko: uh...yeah... all right as long as we don't overdo it.

vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. [ male announcer ] onglyza should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history or risk of diabetic ketoacidosis. onglyza has not been studied with insulin. using onglyza with medicines such as sulfonylureas may cause low blood sugar. some symptoms of low blood sugar are shaking, sweating and rapid heartbeat. call your doctor if you have an allergic reaction like rash, hives or swelling of the face, mouth or throat. ask your doctor if you also take a tzd as swelling in the hands, feet or ankles may worsen.

blood tests will check for kidney problems. you may need a lower dose of onglyza if your kidneys are not working well or if you take certain medicines. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding onglyza. extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program.

tough new rules for oil companies operating offshore rigs. the crackdown is designed to reduce any chance of a catastrophic oil spill. ken salazar says the obama administration considers whether to end the moratorium on deepwater drilling. head of management and enforcement use the to be known

as the mineral management service. thanks very much. do you think these new rules, i know you don't have the completed investigation yet, but could these new rules have prevented the blowout on the rig? >> we don't know. we do know the new rules substantially raise the bar and impose tough new requirements on offshore operators. that's our goal is to continually upgrade the level of safety that's required in offshore drilling. we won't know the full answer as to whether the new requirements would have prevented the blowout until all of the investigations are complete, which is still sunshine in the future. >> not only sometime in the future. as i understand it from one of lawyers involved, pleading for subpoena power. the fact is that congress has not given the subpoena power that these investigators say that they need. >> well, that's true for the president's commission. but other investigations do have powers and there's one

investigation that my agency is jointly conducting with the coast guard and we've gotten good cooperation from the coast guard and others and sharing that information with the president's commission. by the time the investigations are over, i'm confident we'll know a tremendous amount about what happened and we'll know what the root causes were. >> i want to ask you about the moratorium. it's not expected to expire inform november 30th. i thrs the reasons the president has laid out, you don't want to go back into it until you have the results of the investigation. you have mary landrieu putting a hold on the confirmation of the new budget director. and a critical job, major economic job at a time of economic turnover in the white house, the new budget has to get worked on for its february release. and you've got a democratic senator from the region putting a hold on this. is there any chance you would lift the moratorium any sooner? >> there's no chance we'll lift

it sooner because of political pressure of any sort. the only way we'll lift the moratorium sooner is if we're comfortable and confident there has been progress on a number of issues. those numbers are drilling in workplace safety, spill containment and spill response. today's rules upgrade drilling in workplace safety to a very substantial degree. as you may know, secretary salazar asked me back in july to conduct a series of public forums to gather information with a specific purpose of determining whether the moratorium could be cut short because of the advances that have been made on the three issues. i'm due to provide a report to the secretary in the next day or two. and that is going to be his decision whether that justifies shortening or modifying the moratorium. >> thanks very much. now to education nation and the urgent task of fixing america's failing schools.

den sis president of the nation national education association. thanks so much. as you know, nbc news and all of our networks of nbc have been intensively focusing on the failures in schools and a lot of the anger is directed against the teacher's union. randy wine garten has been out there, you have been as well. it's a larger union and reformers say both inside and outside the administration that you are more resistant to reform even than randy wine garten has been. >> they have fought for implemented reform efforts for years. all across this country from evansville, indiana, to denver colorado, to seattle, washington. more aggressively when secretary duncan called for something to be done with the lowest performing schools, we call them priority schools. we're partnering in over 120

schools in 14 states saying if we partner with school board and employees and working with parents, we can turn those schools around. >> everything is a matter of degree. let's see what the president said earlier this week with matt lauer. >> you can't defend a status quo in which a third of our kids are dropping out. you can't defend a status quo when you have 2,000 schools across the country that are dropout factories. if teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go. >> what do you say to the president, to the teacher who we showed with brian williams on sunday who said, i want to come in on saturday. my kids in the bronx need the special help, need more fonices and grammar. the contract says i can't. what do you say to people who say, these contracts are getting in the way of helping our kids? america's future is at stake. >> number one, president obama, we say we're absolutely in

agreement. the status quo is unacceptable. in this country for the last 20 or 25 years the graduation rate has not fluctuated like the dow jones. it's been pretty consistent around 25%. that's totally unacceptable. in the 21st century. >> don't the teachers bear in blame? >> the whole system has to be trons formed. doesn't do go to point fingers. it's a systemic problem and all parts of the system need to be part of the cure. we need to be part of that. we need the support and collaboration with administrators and school board and with our partnership with parents, we can change this. but it will be done in cooperation not by pointing blame. >> we hope this sparks a real conversation. thank you very much. >> we're excited to be part of this and we know we can change education in the country. the future is way too important for us to fail. >> we can agree on that. first, logon to educationnation.com and join the

conversation, be part of the action. up next here, politics gets personal in the new york governor's race. the story behind this heated exchange coming up next. ♪ i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you

♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release system that protects the medicine as it passes through the stomach's tough acid. then it gets absorbed into the body, turning off many acid-producing pumps at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection all day and all night.

prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on.

tea party favorite carl paladino isn't pulling punches when it comes to his opponent. he raised all sorts of unproven questions about cuomo's personal life. john harris and chief of politico joins us. look what happened next after that interview was posted on politico. let's watch. >> do you have any evidence to the charge you made, simple question? >> of course i do, you'll get it at the appropriate time. you're not entitled to it. at the appropriate time you'll get it. >> you're his stalking horse, fred. you're his stalk s horse. you're his bird dog. he send another to my daughter's house and i'll take you out.

>> how are you going to do that? >> watch. >> you're working for cuomo. you're a terrible journalist. >> thank you very much. >> that was paladino taking on fred dicker, the legendary statehouse reporter in albany for "the new york post." john harris, what does this tell you about the race? >> i was as disappointed as you were, andrea. where's the discussion of entitlement reform? what about taxes? what it shows is something that we've seen for a while. those certainly at the political junky level we can enjoy. this is a circus up in new york with, do put it mildly, an eccentric campaign with an unconventional candidate. things veered off into pretty outlandish territory. paladino, who is a tea party

favorite up in new york and who some of the same trends we've seen in many states, even a more liberal state like new york are playing out. highly energized conservative base t would be a stunner if he would run over andrew cuomo. but the race is really taking on sort of the extreme flavor that we've seen in other places. the allegation that he made to our reporter up in new york was that -- one of extra marital affairs, why don't you in the press cover andrew cuomo's affairs? the problem is he gave no evidence whatsoever of that. >> no evidence and he has a child out of we hdlock, acknowledged child out of wedlock. >> get off my back and go chase cuomo. but it was not the most ed fiing moment in politics and i've been at this for a while. >> we should point out new york state while a liberal state in general, cuomo is beginning to

take paladino seriously and up state new york he may as well be in ohio or someplace. it's a much more conservative, much more rural atmosphere, that's why hillary clinton had to work hard upstate. >> hillary clinton did work hard and got a lot of those voters. it's a republican leaning upstate. i grew p you in rochester. it hasn't been a hard core conservative era. we're seeing the conservative base most energize and plexing their muscles. paladino's administration is not example of that. >> right in the middle of the action, a little word of friendly advice, don't go up and stake out paladino any time soon. >> that's what i've got repor r reporters for, andrea. >> exactly. thanks a lot. good news out of cleveland, former president jimmy carter just released from the hospital after spending two days from a viral infection. he was admitted tuesday after

falling ill with stomach points while on flight from atlanta to cleveland. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

♪ i was young and i was stupid ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪

lawrence o'donnell hosts "the last word", he had pretty prevok tif interviews with a candidate named levi johnston. >> what's your position on ghoebal warming? >> there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now with the impacts. >> no, i don't. >> you don't believe it's manmade? or you do believe it's manmade? >> i don't believe it's manmade. >> do you believe evolution have you been taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of theories. >> it should be taught as an accepted principle.

>> you're kind of getting over my head on these things here. i don't really know how to answer that question. >> lawrence o'donnell, great to see you, congratulations on the new show. do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted principle or one of several theories? >> one i was afraid of. you're going over my head on this stuff. >> you don't watch television, do you? >> i love that kid. he's honest and straight forward and he's not embarrassed. and look, i rescored his answers last night when i stacked them up against sarah palin's and i think he did do a better job than sarah palin question by question, answer by answer. >> you have megan mccain coming on tonight. >> at this point in the day, i have nothing for levi johnston. it's only at the last minute i figure out the way to go with this stuff. megan mccain has already shown

she's a lot of fun and has a book out that's really interesting inside look at what it's like to be the daughter of a presidential candidate. all of the pressure that she's been under as a result of that. and we'll just i think have an ceasy conversation about that. >> you've been around for a long time, both in the knee at trickal side of the west wing and diagnosing what goes on dramatically here in washington and also as the chief of staff of the senate finance committee for pat moynahan. i was with a democratic senator and republican senator, both receipt van veterans last night. any could not even agree, both exhausted by this experience that the leadership on the hill couldn't agree on the house side and nancy pelosi had a cast of unusual vote, just to get 209 to 210 aadjourn. . the democrats are divided. have you ever seen gridlock like

this. >> not exactly like this. it has gotten worse. we have seen how the number of cloe tour motions has increased dramatically but it's taxes andrea. taxes, taxes, taxes. it's like in real estate, they always say, location, location, location. in politics, it's taxes, taxes, taxes. there's nothing that controls a politicians more than that. democrats have a very difficult time because of it because they are thought of being a tax raising party even though that isn't historically true. the republicans have a clear ideology on taxes, which is cut them. that's it. as simple as that. they are always in a rhetorically stronger and simpler position than democrats and tax debates scares democrats. that's why you're watching them leave town this way. >> you'll have the last word and tonight and every night and you ruined my sleep schedule. thanks so much. airing week nights at 10:00 on msnbc, lawrence o'donnell.

we'll be right back. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. [ female announcer ] mousse temptations by jell-o.

decadently delicious. 60 calories. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. try new chocolate mint sensation. you should get some custom fit orthotics. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center. it recommends the custom fit orthotic that's best for your feet. and footcare scientists are behind it. you'll get immediate comfort... ... and, you could save a couple hundred bucks. for locations see drscholls.com

pakistan shut down a keep supply route for u.s. forces in neighboring afghanistan. it may be retaliation for nato strikes designed to kill terrorists hiding in pakistani tribal regions. steve clemens is senior fellow and director at the new america foundation and joins me now. you know this part of the world so well. what is going on there? we're just looking at a quote from the interior minister who said today in pakistan, we will have to see whether we are allies or enemies. >> i think this has been something that a lot of analysts have been saying for a long time. that in one hand while people have been worried about al qaeda having a safe haven it afghanistan, it's clear they have one now in pakistan. it is now the taliban network, both a sponsor and foe. that explains for many people why this is such a hard, hard slog because oural ally in

pakistan is turning out to be the enemy. >> the head of the military staff there suggesting that the civilian government is also at risk, the very unpopular president. we have huge tensions there. >> we have biblical sized floods and the pakistani military, the strongest institution in the government focused on the floods, not fighting terrorists. this has created a lot of tension about the civilian government's incompetence. so he is dealing with both challenges at the same time i think it is an upstanding guy, nonetheless up to his eyeballs in problems. >> speaking of problems, china, you just came back from china. we have seen the chinese -- >> big showdown. >> with japan and come out on top, the japanese backed down. are we next backing down from china because we challenge them on currency and they are saying tough? >> we definitely see an increase in chinese confidence. i call it beijing's fragile

swagger where china is still 100th in the world in per capita income. we see a testing of our allies and of u.s. resolve, whether it's on our ships in the southern south china sea on currencies. they are testing to see what they can get away with and redefining their power in the world. they are the google of countries today and know there's global doubt. many of the other countries look at the united states as sort of the general motors of countries. >> a lot of stuff to worry about. steve clemens, thank you very much. from the new america foundation. could the next attack on america come from inside. a new six-month investigation finds that america militias have stepped up training making it clear they are ready for war. the cover story is titled "locked and loaded" the secret world of extreme militias. richard, thanks and

congratulations. we want to talk about bart gelman this veteran reporter and his intensive investigation into the militias. have you seen it ramping what he's investigated since the election of barack obama and is some of this racial? >> andrea, bart came to me with this idea. he's a pulleys zer journalist and six or seven months ago and said, this is what i'm hearing. i hear that the administration is noting and fbi is noting, other intelligence organizations are noting a resurgence in the violent and armed militia groups that flourished for a while in the 80s and '90s and seemed to go a way. bart has traveled all over the country. the story is set with a militia group in ohio, where it opens. and yes, i mean, to be frank about it, you know, the fact we

have an african-american president with a foreign sounding name has offered kind of gasoline to some of these groups and spurred the fire of their resentment. >> you have some nuggets in here, fresh reporting, for instance, the man who launched the shootout at the holocaust museum. tell us what was the additional threat level there. >> he was a man in his 80s with a .22 rifle. from a white supremacist organization. he died in prison some months later. he also had in his possession a list with david axelrod's name on it and believe his address and in his writings that he had posted. he said the jews control obama and david axelrod controls obama. he must be gotten rid of. that's new information that's never been reported before. we also have an extraordinary

scoop that bart came up with. the james cummings, who was arrested in maine bart came up . james cummings, he was murdered by his wife. he had been preparing nuclear elements for a dirty bomb. it was still preliminary. but this is something that has never been revealed before. this is compared to jose padilla, this guy has much more uranium in his possession and was further along in preparing a dirty bomb for domestic use. >> fascinating stuff. this is the cover story of "time" magazine. locked and loaded, the secret world of extreme militias. bart gelman's reporting. thank you very much. a lot to worry about. maybe you want school kids

to have more exposure to the arts. maybe you want to provide meals for the needy. or maybe you want to help when the unexpected happens. whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer, or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

topping the headlines now on "andrea mitchell reports." a rutgers university student committed suicide after his roommate and classmate broadcast live images of him having sexual encounters with a man. the who students have been charged with illegally taping the encounter and showing it online. johnson and johnson apologized for letting the public down. they didn't acknowledge the problem publicly. tony curtis who crossed from matinee idol to comedian has died. he died last night of cardiac arrest at his home in las vegas. curtis' career spanned nearly six decades. perhaps most memorably his

performance in "some like it hot." he married six times. he had six children. including actress jamie lee curtis. he was 85. that does it for this edition. be sure to follow us online. tamron hall is up next. we'll see you tomorrow. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everythi need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. but the financial landscape is still full of uncertainty.

in times like these, you need an experienced partner to look out for you. heads up! and after 300 years we have gotten pretty good at that. so i've come up with some mnemonic devices to help me learn your names. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned. oh, that's 'cause fedex ground helps you save money. that's right, penny. do you know ours? heavens to betsy. dwayne the bathtub. magic wanda. yeah! what's mine? uh, you're a dan fool. oh. it's just a device, dan. you can't take it personally. yeah, i suppose. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need a partner who helps you save. fedex ground.

two rutgers students accused of posting a classmate's sexual encounter online. an act police say drove that student to commit suicide. the remnants of tropical storm nichol drop two feet of rain on the carolinas. it's not over yet for the northeast. >> you made the charge. >> i'll take you out, buddy. >> karl paladino, unscripted and angry.

he gets into a heated confrontation and says he's got a good reason. radio talk show host michael smerconish will join me. we'll show you what michael has to say. plus, death ray? the hot vegas hotel that is hot for all the wrong reasons. we start with the tracking of tropical storm nicole. flooding concerns stretched from north carolina to maine. almost two feet of rain fell on the carolinas just this morning. in virginia two people were rescued from a car that was struck in a flooded intersection. more than five inches of rain fallen in participants of virginia and washington, d.c. prompting flash flood watches and warnings. we have meteorologists and reporters all along the east coast. we begin with the weather channel's jeff morrow, who is in washington, d.c. a couple hours ago we couldn't see you. now it looks a